As they rounded a corner and the pathway dead-ended near a small cottage, Alice’s steps faltered. Was this housing for staff?
Rather than angling his steps away from the small structure, Luka walked further toward it. The cottage was small and tan; two large windows and a door dotted the front. A curved roof made of shimmering green tile topped the building. Just in front of the small house was a smaller pathway, lined on either side by large beds of wildflowers.
From the green front door emerged Verakko. Not bothering to walk over and greet them, he waved them forward, disappearing again into the small house.
“Is this where she lives?” Alice whispered.
Luka glanced toward the charming cottage and then back toward her. “Yes. Why?”
She shrugged. “It just doesn’t look like a place a queen would live. Little Red Riding Hood or a hobbit maybe, but not a Queen.”
“What’s a hobbit?” Luka inquired seriously, pulling a laugh from her.
“Nothing. Nothing. Let’s go.”
Following him inside, she saw that the interior was as small as the exterior, though no less charming.
“Over here,” Verakko called from their left.
Through an archway, she could see Verakko and the Queen sat at a small wooden table. Alice and Luka settled themselves at the table, as well.
“Hello, ma’am,” Alice said, stumbling over “ma’am,” not sure if it was appropriate.
The Queen gave a quick nod in acknowledgment.
Luka bowed, only taking his eyes off Verakko for a second to peer into the Queen’s face as he said, “Madam.”
“Hello, Alice. Luka. Thank you for joining us. I don’t want to waste your time, so I’ll dive right in. After spending some more time at the facility, Verakko has made a few discoveries.” Nodding toward him, she continued, “I’ll let him explain.”
He smiled. “Nice to see you again, Alice.” Toward Luka, he frowned. “And you.”
Luka grunted in response.
“As you know, both outposts were rigged with some kind of failsafe. I continued searching the facilities, looking for any clues but they were both dead-ends,” Verakko began.
Alice’s heart sank. What would happen to all the people still being held in those places?
“We do have another lead, however,” the Queen added. “We’ve been trying to get information out of Helas, but he’s proved to be very loyal to the Insurgent cause. We suspect he was a higher-up within the ranks of the organization.”
At the mention of Helas’ name, she saw Luka stiffen. For the most part, Alice had put the awful days at the outpost behind her, but despite Luka’s argument to the contrary, she wasn’t sure he had.
She found his tightly balled fist under the table, and ran her fingertips over his skin until he loosened enough for her to place her hand in his. Body still radiating tension, she was relieved to see his clenched jaw loosen a fraction.
The Queen continued, “Sal, on the other hand, has decided to provide assistance.”
“Why? And how does this concern Alice?” Luka rasped.
How does it concern me? Alice had become used to the Queen asking for her assistance in regard to humans and what could be done for the human women, but Luka was right, this felt different. This wasn’t a large meeting at the Temple to discuss strategy, this was an intimate meeting at the Queen’s house. A creeping sensation worked its way up her spine as she took in the briefest flash of concern on Verakko’s face.
Verakko held Alice’s stare. “Sal has revealed Helas has a secret work area in the woods near the outpost. He said he knows how to find it, and that it contains an operating system of its own that the other members are unaware of. Apparently, Helas was rather paranoid and decided he wanted to be able to oversee the other outposts without anyone else knowing.”
“That’s great!” But why were they telling her?
Verakko dipped his head from side to side, a grimace in place. “It’s almost great. The system is protected by a three-factor identification. In order to log into his feed, we need Helas’ security token, fingerprint, and facial recognition scan.”
“And I’m assuming these body parts need to be attached to him at the time?” Luka muttered darkly.
“Yup.” Verakko glanced back toward Alice. “We can transport Helas to the house and force him to sit in place, but we can’t force him to tell us where the token is. That’s why we need you.”
“Me?” Alice squeaked, eyes widening. “I don’t know where it is.”
Luka had gone perfectly still, his face unreadable.
“No, but Sal does, and he says he’ll go with us and show us where it is, if you visit him first. He claims he wants to make amends.” Verakko leaned toward her, and his eyes seemed to glow more brightly. “If we can get access to their video feeds, their locks, and their speaker system, I can lock in all the guards, unlock all the cells, and explain to the prisoners what is happening and how they can escape.”
Helas’ henchman? The last she remembered of Sal was when she and Vanessa had dropped the large man on the ground before escaping. In order to free the women being held in cages throughout the world, all Alice had to do was listen to some asshole’s apology?
Weighing the pros and cons, she reasoned it might be a good opportunity for her to find closure. She still had so many questions about her missing time. If she and Jade had been transported on the same ship, why couldn’t she remember months of her life? On the other hand, this could be a ruse.
“You’d need to accompany us to the prison and stay until we have everything we needed from Sal, and then you never have
